President Obama is committed to pursuing an ambitious trade agenda with Colombia that will help grow the economy and support good jobs for U.S. workers by opening new markets.
To achieve that objective, the country seeks to provide a level playing field that creates economic opportunities for U.S. workers, companies, farmers, and ranchers, and that ensures our trading partners have acceptable working conditions and respect fundamental labor rights.
As part of this broader trade agenda, the Obama Administration has worked closely with the government of Colombia to address serious and immediate labor concerns.
These concerns included insufficient protection of internationally recognized labor rights under Colombian laws,
regulations, and enforcement efforts; violence against Colombian labor union leaders; and inadequate efforts to bring to justice those responsible for killing labor union leaders.
The result is an agreed “Action Plan Related to Labor Rights” that will lead to greatly enhanced labor rights in Colombia and clear the way for the U.S.-Colombia Trade Agreement to move forward to Congress.
The U.S.-Colombia Trade Agreement will expand U.S. goods exports alone by more than $1.1 billion and give key U.S. goods and services duty free access in sectors from manufacturing to agriculture. It will increase U.S. GDP by $2.5 billion and support thousands of additional U.S. jobs.
